PMD620

The Marantz PMD620 is a high performance handheld digital recorder that records to SD flashcard media in either PCM (.WAV) or MP3 audio formats. Its lightweight compact form (just 62x102x25mm), ergonomic design and ease of operation commends the PMD620 to a wide range of users, including journalists, reporters, programme makers, podcasters, musicians and sound recordists everywhere.

Features include an inbuilt stereo condenser microphone array for ‘point and shoot recording’, and an intuitive control surface for 'one-hand' operation, with thumb operated transport wheel and tactile, red illuminating, record button. A high contrast, low power draw organic LED (OLED) screen provides vivid display of menus which guide the user through the optimum set up and operation for their application.

Recording settings are selectable between those for high quality music recording to extended voice recording. The use of SD cards includes support for SDHC (SD High Capacity) cards, with recording file size limited only by card capacity. Recording time with a 4 GB card extends from 3 hrs 44 mins for stereo PCM (.WAV) at 24-bit / 48 kHz, to 283 hrs 44 mins – almost 12 days – for mono MP3 at 32 kbps.

Journalists and podcasters will appreciate the PMD620’s basic but useful onboard editing, with non-destructive cut-and-paste ‘Copy Segment’ editing to create new sound files. Transcription is simple with the Skip Back function, and file transfers to any computer are drag-and-drop via the USB 2.0 connectivity.

PMD660

Marantz claim their PMD660 to be a "miniature" portable solid state stereo pro-recorder and it is certainly a more sensible size than its bigger brother, the PMD670 (from which it is derived), although compared to Maycom's HandHeld II we would have to call it 'a bit of a brick' rather than miniature!

The PMD660 is a contender, though, if you only need WAV and MP3. It is quite rugged and has some good features, and reasonable audio quality. For many years Marantz has produced cassette and MD field recorders that are well proven, and the PMD660 now joins this list. It is fine for many field applications like electronic journalism (no MP2 or BWAV, though), technical investigation, and documenting legal proceedings.

DR-07

TASCAM's DR-07 brings portable digital recording to an even smaller, more affordable package. A pair of highly-sensitive built in mics captures a wide stereo image, recording in either MP3 or 16/24-bit WAV format. The DR-07 is powered by AA batteries and it transfers files to a computer using a high-speed USB 2.0 connection. The versatile recorder even includes a windscreen, tripod stand mount and 2GB SD card to start recording right away. Musicians will appreciate the playback functions of the DR-07, including the ability to loop MP3s and slow them down without changing the pitch. External microphones and sources can be recorded through the mic/line input, and the recorder offers analog limiting, low cut and auto gain setting for great-sounding audio. But for great-sounding recordings, the compact DR-07 is all you need.

DR-1

The DR-1 is a compact portable stereo digital recorder that captures hours of music to SD memory media. A built-in high-quality, variable-angle stereo condenser microphone allows the user to record from almost anywhere at MP3 or WAV file formats. Two microphone inputs are available for an external mono or stereo mic. The recorder includes auto gain control and analogue limiting for easy setup and a switchable low-frequency filter to eliminate handling or wind noise. One out of eleven effects can be applied to the input signal during recording. Recordings can also be added to existing audio files (overdub feature). And a host of playback features is supplied, including pitch and key control, a cancelling function as well as a tuner and a metronome.

The DR-1 comes with a 1-Gigabyte SD card and a lithium-ion rechargeable battery for many hours of recording time. An AC adapter and an accessory kit are available as an option.